Reading on Kindle Paperwhite vs iPad

Apple Tree of Knowledge: Did you know that it was reported, in 2011, that each Apple employee brought in over $200,000 in revenue every year for the company, while only getting paid slightly above minimum wage? This eventually led to employee outrage and Apple raised employee wages and offered better benefits. Moral of the story, know your value and you can make a case to be treated better.

I started my journey with the Kindle when I was deployed with the Air Force in 2011. At the time, I didn’t have a Kindle so I started downloading free or cheap $.99 books from the Amazon store on my iPhone 3GS. Being that it was the only device I had to read on, I didn’t know how much nicer reading on a bigger screen eventually would be.

After my deployment, I went to Target and purchased a Kindle. It was fascinating knowing I had all of these books in one spot. Since the Kindle books are primary just text, you can fill hundreds, if not thousands, of books on a single device.

At the time, I didn’t think I had a need for an iPad. I had my phone and had my MacBook. That was all I needed until the iPad mini was released. At that point, my Kindle started to be neglected. Reading on my iPad mini was fantastic because not only could it hold all of those books that the Kindle could, but it also was my computer replacement. I could do nearly everything on this one device.

I eventually moved onto my iPad Air 2, which is my current iPad. Again, not much different than the iPad mini as far as how it works, but its size. It is a great e-book reader, but I was looking for something smaller, again.

Size

Comparing my iPad Air 2 to the Kindle Paperwhite, you will notice there is a significant size difference. My iPad is a 9.7″ screen while the Kindle Paperwhite has a 6 inch screen. Sizes of the screen doesn’t matter too much other than being able to fit more text onto the screen at one time. Just as an FYI, you can change the size of the text on both devices to make it easier to read or to fit more text onto the screen.

Where the sizes of the devices start making a big difference is when it comes down to the weight. The iPad Air 2 weighs in at 437 grams while the Kindle Paperwhite weighs 205 grams. As you can see, the iPad Air 2 weighs more than double that of the Kindle. This will be a dealbreaker for mostly everyone if you are looking for a standalone e-reader. If you are a reader who likes to read hours at a time, the Kindle will definitely be the more attractive option for you.

Function

If you know anything about the iPad, you know that it can do pretty much everything your phone can do and can sometimes replace your need for an actual computer or laptop. When I am not in school, the iPad becomes my computer. The fact that you can take this device everywhere and do the things you can do with it, is incredible. You can use the Kindle or iBook store on the iPad. So if you have books purchased on either store, you have access to them. As far as a device that does it all, the iPad gets that check mark.

The Kindle is an e-reader and that is about it. And sometimes, that is a good thing. With the iPad you deal with notifications from all of the apps on the device. If you have your texts and iMessages coming through, you are distracted by that. With all of the distractions in the technology world today, sometimes you need that break from it all. That is where the Kindle shines. There are no dinging or pinging noises. It is a device to read a book. Plain and simple.

Battery

Apple tells us that the iPad will get around 10 hours of use. Of course, what you are doing on the device will make that number vary big time.

Amazon tells us that the Kindle Paperwhite under certain backlight settings will get you around 28 hours.

Regardless of how you use the devices, you can see that the Kindle destroys the iPad, as far as battery is concerned. But it makes sense. With the iPad you are getting a beautiful high definition display and the hardware and software combined does a great job making that battery last as long as physics allow. With the Kindle, it uses an e-ink display. It is far from beautiful but that is how it gets such a long battery life. This may sound silly but one downside with having something like the Kindle, that has a long battery life, is that you always forget to charge it. You rarely have to charge it so by the time it needs a charge, you already forgot to plug it in. So as a reminder, before a trip, charge your devices!

The Kindle Paperwhite is usually $119.99 but as of this writing is $99.99.

Conclusion

So, as you can tell, there are quite a few differences, advantages and disadvantages to reading on both of them.

If an iPad is something that you have been eyeing up, I cannot recommend enough having one in your lineup of tech devices. It does its job as an e-reader plus much more, but also have to sacrifice size, portability and price.

If you just need an e-book reader the Kindle Paperwhite is a fantastic device. It is small, light and cheaper than the competition.